Nabarangpur, Nov 5: In a tragic incident, a Forester was killed and three others, including two officials of the Forest Department, sustained critical injuries after a speeding pick-up van hit their car in Papadahandi block of Odisha’s Nabarangpur district today.

While Gupta Prasad Mohanty, the Forester of Jharigaon Range in Nabarangpur, died in the mishap, Forester of Jharigaon Range Tanuj Kumar Parichha, his Umerkote Range counterpart Kamakhya Prasad Singhdeo and the driver of a pick-up van sustained critical injuries.

According to sources, the mishap took place on the Bharatmala road, connecting Visakhapatnam to Raipur, near Dengaguda Square under Papadahandi block in the afternoon when the three officials were travelling to G. Udayagiri in Kandhamal district in a car to attend a training program of the Forest Department.

A speeding pick-up van collided head-on with the car they were travelling in, killing Mohanty on the spot and injuring three others.

Some local passerby people jumped to their rescue and rushed the three injured persons to the Nabarangpur District Headquarters Hospital (DHH). Later, the two injured Foresters were shifted to a hospital in Visakhapatnam as their health condition deteriorated.

Upon getting the information, police arrived at the spot and launched a probe into the mishap. The cops also seized the deceased’s body and sent it for post-mortem.